Work Begins To Uncover Secrets Of Silbury Hill

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 5-12-2007 | Richard Savill

[Robert A Cook PE]

The Indian-as-great-civilazation crowd is doing a lot of work in Stone Age American archeology in the Indian mounds: a lot is tinged (or hiding behind political correctness as their faults tend to be hidden, and successes amplified) but there is more work being done. I've been to the Illinois and Missouri Indian mounds, and the ones in north GA and Alabama.

Impressive, but they are not much more complex than piled up dirt.

Get enough people/slaves/prisoners, and you can pile a lot of dirt up. Strange that this mound didn’t start getting holes and subsiding marks in the top until the arch’s starting tunneling recently.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Just like dragons (uniform world-wide in their descriptions and postures) are most likely inspired from T rex bones and footprints, the “memory” of Neanderthals (or their bones) near Cro-Mag for many years inspired the Orc’s, trolls, and dwarfs of legend.

[Beowulf9]

I don’t understand how they could tell this is a man made mound and not a natural hill? Anyone?

Also, maybe the point to be yet discovered here this ancient civilization’s people didn’t have much in the way of brain cells, lol. Spending a lot of time making a hill...?!

[ApplegateRanch]

Snickers uber alles!

And guffaws back at you!

[skeptoid]

Those have got to limit sleep posture options.

[ApplegateRanch]

what is the point in spending hundreds of thousands of pounds fixing it?

If "we think" it was built spiral-fashion; if "we don't know" how it was built; if "we aren't sure" why it was built; if "we have no idea" how it origianlly looked:

Then how in Hell can "we fix" it?

Maybe they could just follow the current trend of archeology, and bury it in plaster of paris, until "future archeologistss have the knowlege and expertise to properly study" it.

[WoofDog123]

it helps to see it in person to know, at least intuitively. who knows if the is a SMALL rise in the land underneath, but silsbury hill is distinct and visible from miles away.,, is circular and conical and there is nothing remotely comparable to it in height or shape in that area that I have ever seen.

[SunkenCiv]

The big brain came from the Neandertal. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Also partly in Wiltshire, the later construction, the Wansdyke, involved more material. Links page has a link to another Wiltshire work (I'd never heard of it), Bican Dyke Linear Earthwork.

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[ApplegateRanch]

My theory, which I call the Cool Hand Luke Hypothesis:

Ancient rulers believed that idle hands did the devil's work against them. Busy subjects were too tired to revolt.

"Now that you've finished digging that hole, fill it up!"

[SunkenCiv]

I think you're onto something.

I'm amused by this guy's name within this context:

Peer's fears over 'pyramid' hill
BBC
Monday, May 17, 2004

Lord Avebury says he is "stunned" the Countryside Agency's wants to label Silbury Hill in Wiltshire as "unimproved chalk grassland". The move could lead to ramblers having free access to the hill, which opponents fear may cause damage. However, the agency says it took the decision because the 4,700-year-old hill is a "man-made structure"... The act has already sparked one high-profile spat in Wiltshire with pop star Madonna keen to protect her privacy and estate from walkers and inquisitive sightseers. On Monday Lord Avebury told the hearing, at Hungerford, Berkshire, the hill was "comparable with the ancient Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Pyramids of Mexico". Silbury Hill, near Avebury, is thought to date back nearly 5,000 years to the Neolithic period. Archaeologists from English Heritage began investigating the hill four years ago after a hole appeared in the top, prompting fears it could collapse.

[ApplegateRanch]

English Heritage is to spend £600,000 this summer trying to preserve the mound.

the Countryside Agency's wants to label Silbury Hill in Wiltshire as "unimproved chalk grassland".

English Heritage I know; but what the Sam Hill is Countryside Agency?!? It sounds like a realty outift.

[blam]

"The big brain came from the Neandertal. :’)"

Could Be.

[BigSkyVic]

Okay, can we consider that there are geological events happening in the various plates that are part of our existing continents which, in the short term seem somewhat drastic, but in the millemium term are but a drop in the geolocigal schema of things...humm

[blam]

Hadn't heard of Bican Dyke either.

Offas Dyke

The highest concentration of 'O' type blood in the world is behind Offas Dyke.

[BigSkyVic]

I also wanted to attach this other post regarding Michau Pichau:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1832477/posts

[BigSkyVic]

If “we think” it was built spiral-fashion; if “we don’t know” how it was built; if “we aren’t sure” why it was built; if “we have no idea” how it origianlly looked:

Then how in Hell can “we fix” it?

I don’t know...ask President Bush, it all his fault!

[Beowulf9]

Wow. Thanks for that reply, because I knew it had to be actually something that triggered all the attention, something that set it apart.

Really, I have always found Sillbury Hill to be interesting, kinda nice to know that bit.

[SunkenCiv]

what the Sam Hill is Countryside Agency?!? It sounds like a realty outfit.

I think that really is a realty office, and it's probably located in Sam Hill, but that's a different site. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

And there’s also Wat’s Dyke, which is centuries older than Offa’s Dyke, and may have inspired it.